Bear vs Evernote Comparison To Choose The Better One

In the current atmosphere of enhanced productivity, smartphone applications play a major part in our work & personal life, Evernote was a major part of it. With time, this once upon a time development decreased in value and usability to its users. To fulfill this gap and lack in productivity, Shiny Frog introduced ‘Bear,’ which is more than a note-taking app and brings all of the editing and Markdown properties that actually make writing joyful. Let us see their comparison- Bear vs Evernote, and find out which is the better.

Bear vs Evernote

Let’s first take a look at Evernote followed by Bear Notes.

Evernote- What is it?

Evernote has served as the best note-taking app for almost 10 years of its existence so far. It has lived up to its expectations and gained immense popularity and served individuals and businesses alike. Even technical teams at small business startups started using Evernote as an official medium of communication.

Functionality of Evernote

Evernote is a multifunctional application and also available for free download on all major platforms- Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Individuals and businesses use Evernote as they see fit, as a productivity tool, note-taking app, to dictate notes, set reminders, share images and videos, work chat and much more! Evernote’s versatility is only defined with the number of people using it for their requirements.

Interface

Evernote keeps a simple, yet classy interface.

A search bar at the top to sift through notes.

Tags and Reminders icon sit right next to the search. If you use tags (and you should) you can filter them all out here and select which of the notes associated with tags you want to open. Reminders also show all the notes containing a reminder.

The main hallmark shows all your notes created at once. They are listed in the order of editing. Here you witness all the notes neatly arranged in a simplistic & plain view.

At the very top, you have ‘All Notes’ with a drop-down arrow that opens into ‘Notebooks’ displaying all of your available Notebooks.

At the bottom, you have options like ‘Notes,’ ‘Search,’ ‘Shortcuts,’ and ‘Accounts’. All of these options are self-explanatory and very easy to follow.

Long-pressing the little ‘+’ icon at the bottom-centre exposes three more options- Audio, Photo, and Reminder. You can make an audio recording and save it as a note. This will also serve as a dictation tool. Pressing the Photo option opens the camera, but you can also pick a photo from the photo gallery of your iOS or Android.

The settings open up a whole new adjustments panel that makes Evernote even more fun to use. You can choose to sync only on WiFi. Password lock a particular note or notes, receive email reminders, and even manage tags.

Evernote also creates an email address for you, to which you can send notes via email, photos, audio clips from any device directly to your Evernote notebook.

Under the camera settings, you get to access Post-it® Notes, Moleskine Notebook and even create Business Cards using LinkedIn.

Use the transcription of voice for text, dictate, record an audio and attach to your file.

Do you want more flexibility but don’t want to download Evernote? Evernote Web Clipper is available for Chrome, Explorer, Safari, Firefox, and Opera browser as an extension.

Moreover, you can set alarms for each content containing heavy deadlines that you need to comply with.

Evernote offers several sharing options like Bluetooth connection, text message or email, etc. Create a link of your records and share with your friends on social media.

Pros:

Evernote app is available for Android as well as for iOS platforms.

It is useful, simple to learn, and for the most part it is free. It allows you to share your notes by email, messaging and social networks. The platform works with older versions of Android as well.

Cons:

Only the paid version offers an exclusive passcode to open the program which is a safer option for users that should be standard characteristic regardless the version.

There is so much that Evernote offers to its customers, most of these features are available for free. Now, you must be thinking so far so good right? We have everything we could ever need and Evernote is here to stay for good! Wrong!

It is missing out on a majority of essential itemizations such as markdown support, HTML editing options. Besides that, a major change in the company’s vision and direction took place a few years ago that totally redefined what would come next.

Users have complained of its slow syncing across devices, some of the truly good apps that made it popular have now either been replaced or deemed extinct, and its pricing seems ridiculously higher for individuals or small business teams. While the free version is okay for personal usage, it really is insufficient for someone who wants to do work.

Although Scannable (works alongside Evernote) scans business cards quickly and then stores information, and there are a few other apps that work around Evernote and help to keep up its dignity and justify the overbearing price value, it really does not cut it!

I mean who would want to pay $34.99 per year for Evernote Plus and $69.99 a year for Evernote Premium, anyway? Although it does seem a little cheap, for businesses, the $69.99 per year adds up to a very big amount!

Enter Bear by Shiny Frog

Bear is the newest creation by the Italian firm Shiny Frog. It is exclusively made for Apple devices- which is a great relief for all Apple users. It began back in mid-2016 when they first launched their Beta version, and today it is gathering a huge praise from everywhere.

Bear was also voted the Top App of 2016 by Apple. How did this happen so soon and what is so different about Bear? Let us find out.

First of all, the new update released on June 7, 2017 Bear 1.2 for both Bear and Bear Pro users brought a lot of goodies. This includes Sketching with fingers and stylus, Custom App Icons that changes with each free theme built-in to the app, also works for Mac, VoiceOver Support for the visually impaired and the blind, iMessage Stickers, and three new languages including Korean, Russian and Brasilian Portuguese.

Understanding Bear

One would say that Bear is everything that one would need in terms of features and simplistic user interface, and that would be true, indeed! In Bear, you find Markdown support, smoother categorization, up to 8 free themes and more to follow, and many customization options.

Bear has a very straightforward purpose if you keep a busy routine.

To call Bear a mere note-taking app would be a toned down version and a real disgrace, it is a ‘writing app.’ With its dozens of lovable features and flexibility, the writing experience on Bear feels new and super easy!

You can write an entire blog post using Bear and with proper formatting too! Play around with different theme options while you are being creative.

While Bear notes is free to download for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, upgrading to a Bear Pro account for just $14.99 per year is truly worth it and a bare minimum price to pay for an app sweeping people off their feet! Wouldn’t you say?

Categorization in Bear

Some of the best categorization options found in Bear notes include the following.

1. Hashtags

When you add a hashtag to a note, it automatically creates a top-level categorical folder and adding a backslash will auto-create a second-level. Say #Technology is the folder you created, then #Technology/gadgets will add a second folder named ‘gadgets.’

2. Multi-word Hashtags

If you use a lot of hashtags, example on Twitter, then you would know that there is no way to type a phrase unless you use a hyphen or an underscore. With Multi-word Hashtags, Bear notes has eliminated this need for hyphens and underscore as well. You can simply type any phrase you want, followed by a hashtag at the beginning and the end. Example, #Bear Note Rocks# in Bear is equal to #Bear-Note-Rocks or #Bear_Note_Rocks.

3. File Import & Export

Bear notes allow you to import documents from iCloud Drive and other popular Cloud storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. Exporting a file is only possible in the following formats- TXT, Markdown, Text Bundle, Bear Note, RTF, and TaskPaper. As a result, the TXT format is good if your note consists mainly of text because if you are exporting a note as a TXT, you will not receive images with it.

However, the locked file formats are PDF, HTML, Docx, and JPEG available only with Bear Pro for a small price of $14.99 per year.

How can you enable the Markdown mode?

To enable the Markdown mode, all you need to do is to click on the top-left section where you see three horizontal slider bars stacked on top of each other. Then select General and toggle the Markdown Mode switch on.

If you are using Bear notes on iPhone, you will find it listed under General Settings. By default, it is turned off.

How can you link one note to another?

Linking notes is fairly easy and fast with Bear notes. While you are on the home page and see all of your notes listed, select a note you want to create a link. Now, swipe left and click on ‘More,’ then select ‘Copy Link.’ Then select another note you want to drop this link or just create a new note, and press anywhere on-screen to view the ‘Paste’ option. This will paste the link back to your previous note that you copied the link for.

An easier way to create a link back while writing a note is to do this: [[Hey there!]] Take a look at the images below.

How to save notes?

Just like Apple Notes, the Bear notes also saves everything you write in real time. So, if you close the app by mistake or you were interrupted by a call, don’t worry, your work will remain safe and secure in the Bear.

Since Bear is still in its infancy, I’ll try to refrain from any criticism. For an App that is only a year older, it is doing fantastic and more will follow in the upcoming years.

A few ideas of mine would be-

To allow copy & paste of GIFs, just as you can insert emojis.

Chat feature among work teams, as offered on Evernote.

Shareability with other cloud service providers.

Another would be to drop in-text hyperlinks.

To top it all off, if Bear can grab one of the most useful features for writers and academicians, grabbing notes from the internet just like #CintaNotes does, that would make Bear complete and absolutely perfect!

So this was the Bear vs Evernote features comparison, their pros & cons. If you are an iPhone user, then you have both the options. But if you are using Android then you have to go with Evernote. However, do let us know via comments which app you liked.

About The Author

Akshay Thapliyal is the Co-founder of TechUntold. He mainly looks into the strategic & creative planning at TechUntold and the development of mobile Apps which are listed on our App Store . He also loves writing articles on apps & problems he faces related to tech.